10 Tips To Create A User-Centered Call Center

Edward Deming, a pioneer in modern quality management, defined it as “one that exhibits a high degree of uniformity and reliability, established by a standard, suitable for the user.”

Many call center leaders achieve uniformity through their operating procedures. If customer satisfaction is not the mission of a contact center, you have to start considering ways to create a user-centered call center.

The required changes can be simple. First of all it is necessary to analyze the KPIs achieved. What is the importance of service levels, resolution on the first call, average call time, user effort and satisfaction scores? These aspects, among others, reflect the experience that users value.

If the call center already takes these factors into account, but wants to improve, the investment in tools that empower agents such as omnichannel, smart ACD / IVR or quality management must be considered.

10 Tips To Create A User-Centered Call Center

1) Take Advantage Of The Feedback

Literal user feedback works in two ways. First, by asking the appropriate questions to a user at the right time: we all want to feel heard. Second, sharing users’ literal comments with team members is a much more powerful behavior change engine than any form of peer review (such as listening to calls or evaluations).

Most people want to be excellent at their work: literal comments from users (delivered in a supportive environment) tell agents exactly what they should do more (and less) to improve.

If the user asks questions, the agent must be prepared to answer them. Active listening and quick and specific responses help increase satisfaction, talent retention and profits.

2) Train In Soft Skills

Users appreciate that they listen to them and strive to solve their problems. Therefore, continuing education in social skills is important. It has to be empathetic and decisive. For example, if an agent does not have the answer to the user’s query, instead of being hesitant, they must specify a callback by someone who can effectively solve their query.

Therefore it is important that the team of agents can make calls to other departments when necessary. Likewise, customer service can be significantly improved when agents have an automatic dialer linked to a CRM.

3) Get An Appropriate IVR

Intelligent call routing to communicate with the right agent is key, but are users’ most likely questions covered by IVR software? To answer this question it may be useful to identify all types of questions that a user might ask. Then, the IVR should be heard to verify that these are included in the options menu and if they are directed to the appropriate department. 

4) Improve Proactivity

A proactive approach to customer service is an essential part of building a user-centered culture. Having several options for contacting the company (omnichannel) reduces calls to the call center and provides quick answers to simple and daily queries.

However, proactive customer service requires effort and dedication. The first step is to map the user’s path to see where a proactive contact (for example, an SMS) can lead to an easier experience.

Anticipating user needs is essential for this. Thus, adding other contact options with the company such as online chat, social networks or email, can increase user satisfaction.

5) Customize The User’s Journey

Customizing the user’s journey to make it more fluid and enjoyable can differentiate companies from the competition and help build brand loyalty.

People do not want to waste time when they call a company having to repeat information from past conversations. They want a simple process. Currently there are intelligent solutions that allow organizations to record information about each conversation they have with a user by phone, keeping track of their history, what was talked about and even the user’s voice tone to track if it was a positive or negative call.

When a user calls back, the system uses that information to provide a personalized trip from the beginning. Making the telephone experience as easy and useful as possible will make a big difference in the perception of your brand by that user.

6) Focus On Good Listening And Resolution

According to a recent CallMiner report, most users (61%) contact companies to solve problems and arrive with a negative mood. In fact, more than a third of them say they call annoying and one in six angry.

To improve the situation, active listening should be used, avoid interruptions and detect emotions. It is also important to think of strategies to improve the resolution of the queries and even technologies such as interaction analysis can be added.

7) Understand What Users Want

Industry surveys are a good source for information. For example, a consumer survey conducted by Forrester Consulting showed that lack of knowledge among agents is the biggest problem in offering good customer service.

However, tracking and mapping the user’s journey can detect weaknesses detected, especially by measuring satisfaction at each point of contact of the experience. Once these points have been identified, consideration should be given to how improved training, service design and technology can improve the customer experience.

8) Implement A Quality Analysis Program

Users’ expectations are constantly evolving, so contact centers must maintain a high level of customer service. The use of a quality control solution allows supervisors to monitor performance to ensure that agents are offering a good service to users. It offers them a unique visibility and transparency in the activities, since they have access to comments on staff performance. This may allow them to review the conversations directly with the agents and offer them advice.

The implementation of a quality control program allows call centers a good level of customer service at each point of contact.

9) Build A Culture That Supports The Brand’s Promise

Many user-centered organizations will go a long way to protect integrity and support their brand perception and promise. One way to do this is by building a culture of empowerment.

Companies that establish rules that are too rigid or that do not provide agents with the ability to use their own initiative to make decisions will generally end up having to escalate interactions in the chain of command, which in turn will lead to user frustration.

Companies also need to establish the correct customer service metrics and make sure to reward the agents that help them achieve those goals. Metrics such as First Contact Resolution (FCR) or Net Promoter Score (NPS) will facilitate a strong customer service culture.

10) Treat People Well

People are the most valuable asset of a company. A key part of treating the team well is Workforce Management (WFM). With a WFM system you can improve employee participation, reduce costs through optimized operations and increase customer service satisfaction.

Ensuring that the number of agents with the right skills is always available at times of most calls is one of the main benefits of a workforce management tool.

Daily / weekly / monthly forecasts (as well as seasonal forecasts) can be accurately established, ensuring that the customer experience is always of good quality. It also ensures that your employees do not have excessive work or insufficient work, providing the perfect balance.

A WFM tool also allows you to make better decisions when deciding the levels of business service in each channel or altering forecasts and programming.